Russia’s war against Ukraine: Day 138, July 11 – Update No. 2

– Russian deadly strike in east kills at least 28 –

A Russian missile strike destroyed an apartment building, killing at least 28 people, according to Ukrainian rescue workers, as Moscow’s forces seek to consolidate their control over the Donbas region.

The four-storey building was hit by a Russian Uragan missile, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko says on Telegram.

Russian strikes are also reported in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city in the north-east, where a “teaching establishment” and a house are hit, wounding one, according to regional governor Oleh Sinehubov.

– Reduced Russian gas supplies –

Russian energy giant Gazprom begins 10 days of maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline — with Germany and other European countries watching anxiously to see if the gas comes back on.  After the Nord Stream stop, Italian energy company Eni and Austrian Group OMV both report their supplies from Gazprom had also been reduced.

– Wheat harvest –

Russian officials in Kharkiv announce the start of the harvest “in the liberated territories of the region”, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meanwhile says Russia’s restriction on Ukrainian grain exports may have contributed to turmoil in Sri Lanka triggered by shortages of food and fuel.  “We’re seeing the impact of this Russian aggression playing out everywhere,” Blinken tells reporters in Bangkok.

– Moldova hub to stem arms trade –

The European Union announces it is creating a hub in Moldova to battle organised crime, particularly arms smuggling from neighbouring Ukraine.  EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson announces the EU Support Hub for Internal Security and Border Management at a meeting of EU interior ministers expanded to include counterparts from non-EU countries Ukraine and Moldova.  The commissioner says the hub will be a “one-stop shop” allowing Europol to share information and for the EU’s border guard agency Frontex to support border management and detection of firearms trafficking. It will also aim to counter the trafficking of human beings.

– Media crackdown –

Russia pursues its crackdown on news coverage critical of its conduct in the war, blocking the website of the German daily Die Welt, the latest in a growing list.  Since the start of the conflict the German newspaper has published content in Russian.